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FWIW, I think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves with talk about NAFTA II. The idea is that Trump is gonna scrap NAFTA? I'll believe that when I see it. The major donors to the Republican Party almost certainly don't want that to happen, and I'm pretty sure congressional GOPers(along with the more pro-market Democrats) have ways of thwarting any such efforts.

If I've misunderstood the premise of this thread, apologies and carry on.

^Its going to be tinkered with, but I am not sure how much will change with Canada, the focus seems to be more on Mexico.

Canadian officials say the nominee for commerce secretary has indicated a formal-notification letter to open negotiations on NAFTA will be sent to Canada and Mexico within days of Friday’s presidential inauguration.

The Americans want to discuss country of origin rules and the independent dispute-settlement mechanism that are key features of the 1994 NAFTA pact, officials say. Country of origin rules, which govern how much content from outside NAFTA a product can contain and still qualify to be shipped duty-free, are specific to each product and spelled out in writing. They cover every kind of good and service, from suits to cars. The Trump administration is expected to take a harder line on exactly what can cross the border duty-free.

NAFTA’s tripartite dispute panels are also on Mr. Ross’s radar, officials say. The United States has long complained these independent panels are unaccountable and give too much power to Mexico and Canada.

Still, a senior government official told The Globe and Mail the signals from Mr. Trump’s trade team indicate the trade focus will largely be aimed at Mexico, essentially cutting the United States’ southern neighbour out of many NAFTA benefits.

I think even the Mexico stuff will be limited in its scope. If it poses too much of a threat to the cross-border traffic of goods and jobs, business will revolt.

Trump has his followers believing that the US can just make a bunch of demands on Mexico, and Mexico will acquiesce to every one, without any northward pushback that would impact the American economy. Maybe he's right, since the US economy is probably better positioned to absorb the fallout from a trade war, but I'm still pretty skeptical.

We traded before NAFTA so we'll trade after it. May learn another hard lesson about the value of diversification along the way, but that's life.

Why Trump is an exceptional worry for Canada
As President Donald Trump upends the world order, don’t believe for a second that Canada’s economy will escape unscathed
Evan Solomon
January 30, 2017

But as the man himself likes to say: Wrong.

Before you buy the Canadian case for the mutually beneficial status quo, it might be wise to take a closer look at folks like Schwarzman, the CEO of the massively powerful Blackstone Group. He has a net worth of almost US$11 billion. Forbes ranks him the 113th richest man on the planet. In a profile of him published in the Guardian back in 2007, when Schwarzman was known as the “King of Wall Street” and lived in a 35-room Manhattan apartment with 13 washrooms and 11 fireplaces, writer Andrew Clark quoted an interview of Schwarzman describing how he approaches a big negotiation. “I want war, not a series of skirmishes,” Schwarzman said. “I always think about what will kill off the other bidder.”

War. Kill off the other bidder. That’s how you become the King of Wall Street. That’s how you become the chief of the business advisory board for President Donald J. Trump. That’s how you approach a “big negotiation,” like, say, NAFTA. You are a predator atop the financial food chain. To believe that people like Schwarzman or Trump, or Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (net worth US$2.5 billion) or Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (the former CEO of ExxonMobil whose net worth is a modest US$150 million), will leave Canada alone, that they will look for a better deal with everyone except their second-largest trading partner, is not just naïve—it’s like jumping into a pool filled with great white sharks because you’ve convinced yourself they’re vegetarians.

"The country should also pursue trade deals with partners such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, China and other Asian countries, as well as looking at dismantling supply and price controls for dairy and poultry if other countries are willing, he said.

However, the architect of the landmark deal to fight acid rain in the two countries doesn’t think Canada ..."

“We would insist on doing it in a way that doesn’t disrupt the $1.3 trillion of trade that depends on Nafta” each year, Donohue said. “It’s our job to ensure that our leaders understand and appreciate how much of our prosperity is linked to this relationship.”

not "just for dairy anymore" but that doesn't necessarily mean that in some of these areas canadian trade practices aren't out to a [non-dairy] lunch.

we're awfully quick to condemn anyone who wants us to look in the mirror but sometimes the picture in the mirror is pretty ugly. whether it's nafta or bilateral american trade or even interprovincial trade and regulation, we seem to want/expect free access in the other direction and still be able to maintain restricted access at home.

all's fair until we think that it's our ox being gored even if protecting it means we're wrong.

you don't have to like trump to accept that some of what he says is likely true.

So the Nafta trade talks are about to get under way. While I understand a bit why America wants a better deal but some of what they want to look at is supply management in the diary industry, and softwood lumber. Its going to get interesting.

Considering the big problem with the American dairy industry is over supply, I don't think that they've got a lot to lecture us about. They're literally paying people to produce milk that ends up being dumped.

U.S. dairy lobby submits its demands for NAFTA

Peter Hardin, the longtime editor of a Wisconsin dairy-trade publication, The Milkweed, agreed, in a piece for the Wisconsin State Farmer this spring titled: “Don’t blame Canada for dairy woes, look around.”

He said the problem isn’t Canada, it’s excessive American milk production, with a 21.8 per cent increase over four years in Michigan, 10.9 per cent in New York, and 7.6 per cent in Wisconsin.

The shocking news that nearly 100 Wisconsin dairy farmers received termination notices from their buyers this spring is simply a sign that undisciplined milk production in the Great Lakes region is overwhelming our milk marketing system. Don’t blame Canada for Wisconsin’s dairy woes.

From February 2013 through February 2017, milk production has soared in Michigan (+21.8%), New York (+10.9%) and Wisconsin (+7.6%). Michigan has not made commensurate investments in dairy processing plants to handle those big boosts in farm milk output.

Canada’s revised Class 7 milk pricing system has been in the works for over one year and represents that nation’s efforts to protect its dairy farmers. Canada has closed a “loophole” in the original North American Free Trade Agreement. That “loophole” (in the recent words of a Cornell University dairy economist) was allowing more than two million lbs. a day (farm milk equivalent) of U.S. “ultra-filtered milk” for manufacturing use. Canada closed that loophole, with more than a year’s advance notice.

Trump was pandering to his base (or managing expectations). Trump likely can't leave NAFTA without congressional approval especially given the number of states that rely on and benefit from cross border trade with Canada.

The timing of the bombardier announcement sure puzzles me. It just seems like they pulled an end run around the US - before the NAFTA negotiations have been completed. Is that to show the US something or other?

Top Trump official says U.S. isn’t offering ‘anything’ to Canada in exchange for NAFTA demands | Toronto Star

Excerpt:
“As he has in the past, Trump said he thinks the only way to secure a good deal for the U.S. is to put pressure on the other two countries by initiating a termination. He said his negotiators “are going to have to get tougher.”

What happens if NAFTA is killed? RBC looks at Canada’s possible future - National | Globalnews.ca
Excerpt
“If the United States sticks to regulations set by the World Trade Organization (WTO), RBC predicts that Canadian GDP could drop by a total of one per cent in up to 10 years.”

What the end of NAFTA could mean for jobs in western Canada - Macleans.ca
Opinion: With a significant number of western Canadian jobs linked to exports to the U.S., the region must look for ways to diversify its trade
Naomi Christensen
November 18, 2017

Alberta exporters hope NAFTA can be saved but ponder life without it - Business - CBC News

Trade between the countries would then be governed by higher World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff schedules. "In the short term, it could also give President Trump a tariff stick to inflict damage in certain sectors," Christensen says.

Of note for Alberta, a WTO scenario would see tariffs applied on petroleum liquids crossing the border, with heavy oil from the Athabasca oil sands facing more significant fees than light oil.

Still, Christensen does not believe the WTO tariff schedule would be crippling.

"It would hit the value of about 70 per cent of what Alberta exports to the U.S.," she said in an interview ...”

Gotta love how Trump thinks protecting the American steel industry is a matter of national security while the confirmed Russian interference during the election is no big deal.

He’s an opportunist - and a nationalist.

So all countries dealing with the US now have to operate a lot smarter than in the past. The US under Bush, Clinton and Bush was basically giving corporate welfare to the world by shuttering US businesses to enable more global free trade. Now that gift of massive US debt driven consumer spending fueling world growth is coming to an end. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s there was repeated talk of exporting nations having to build their own consumer sector rather than relying on US demand. That mostly didn’t happen and US demand just kept growing and the exporting countries just kept building their industries but not increasing imports of US goods. Endless US trade deficits and endlessly supplying US dollars to the world. Now, as the US flexes it’s muscle - start to follow the money.

The US is the third largest producer of steel in the world, extracting about 30 million tons of steel/month. I'm no expert on trade, but like oil steel is a finite resource. America really doesn't need Canadian steel or oil for that matter. The major bone of contention the US has over Canada is our supply management system. Most people agree that Nafta needs to be overhauled. However with the TPP, which the US has closed the door on, (apparently) Canada needs to be more aggressive in the TPP, imo.

Dairy & poultry form a very, very tiny percentage of trade, but make for good news stories since the impact is so far reaching into the lives of regular Canadians. Doesn't mean it's the primary issue, whatsoever.

Giving less of a damn than ever… Can't laugh at the ignorant if you ignore them!

The Americans have one very simple goal: to reduce the trade deficit. Given that dairy & poultry form a very, very, very tiny segment of overall trade any changes to those sectors will likewise have a very, very, very tiny effect on the overall trade deficit.

Are trade deficits a complex issue? Absolutely. But the simpleton in the White House has disregarded all that complexity & wants the numbers to go one specific way, overall effect on the economy or international trade be damned.

Giving less of a damn than ever… Can't laugh at the ignorant if you ignore them!

Maybe it’s time that we start talking about walking away from NAFTA. We’ll take our lumps and move on and create bilateral agreements with whoever wants to trade with us. We’ll also be able to put impor tariffs on all kinds of US goods and block others. In the end we’ll be far more diversified and far less reliant on one country.

Initially our dollar might collapse but that would be to our benefit in pricing our export offerings everywhere else.

The US is the third largest producer of steel in the world, extracting about 30 million tons of steel/month. I'm no expert on trade, but like oil steel is a finite resource. America really doesn't need Canadian steel or oil for that matter. The major bone of contention the US has over Canada is our supply management system. Most people agree that Nafta needs to be overhauled. However with the TPP, which the US has closed the door on, (apparently) Canada needs to be more aggressive in the TPP, imo.

Didn’t everyone want to cancel the TPP?

Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership really a good deal for Canada? Or is it just 'NAFTA on steroids'?
BY DOUGLAS QUAN
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: SEP 25, 2015

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday declared "trade wars are good, and easy to win," a bold claim that will likely find many skeptics, including those on Wall Street and even some Republicans.

Trump has declared that the U.S. will impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, escalating tensions with China and other trading partners and raising the prospect of higher prices for American consumers and companies. With tensions rising over international trade, stocks closed sharply lower on Wall Street. China on Friday expressed "grave concern."

Steel tariffs a concern in Alberta | CTV Calgary News
Excerpt:
“It may not be Alberta’s biggest industry but an extra tax on steel could have implications right across the province.
“It's hard to put an exact number on it,” says David MacLean with Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. “We estimate the value of steel exports from Alberta to U.S. are in the hundreds of millions of dollars so there’s a lot of jobs at stake, a lot of investment.”

Or we could do like Stephen Harper suggests and simply give the US whatever they ask for.

Ex-PM Stephen Harper pens memo slamming Trudeau government over NAFTA talks
The memo, titled “Napping on NAFTA,” says the Liberal government’s negotiations with the U.S. are going “very badly.”

“I fear that the NAFTA renegotiation is going very badly. I also believe that President (Donald) Trump’s threat to terminate NAFTA is not a bluff ... I believe this threat is real. Therefore, Canada’s government needs to get its head around this reality: it does not matter whether current American proposals are worse than what we have now. What matters in evaluating them is whether it is worth having a trade agreement with the Americans or not.”

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the former Goldman Sachs executive is planning to resign in the coming weeks, concluding months of speculation over how long Cohn would remain in the role. His departure came after Trump announced his plan to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports—an announcement that marked a major loss for Cohn, who had been strongly opposed to the idea.

NAFTA termination could result in loss of 85k jobs in Canada: report - National ...https://globalnews.ca › news › n...
2 days ago · Its analysis says real merchandise exports would fall by $8.9 billion or 1.8 per cent in the year following a NAFTA collapse, with the largest impact on motor vehicle ...

NAFTA termination would have modest impact on economy: Conference Board ...www.cbc.ca › news › politics
2 days ago - National flags representing Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are lit by stage lights at NAFTA renegotiations in Mexico City on Sept. 5, 2017. The Conference Board of ...“

Termination of NAFTA would result in modest short-term economic impact for Canada

I doubt it. If NAFTA was dumped, trade would still occur and other deals would replace it. The US did pretty well up until NAFTA and so did Canada. Trade deals change the scale of production and the degree of specialization but also eliminate some high cost domestic businesses that otherwise diversify the economy and increase the economy’s self-sufficiency.

We should all be somewhat agnostic towards the faith that free trade is a solution to all our problems. Most things in economics have downsides as well as upsides. Eg pollution, deforestation, resource depletion, pockets of poverty, sudden key industry failures, etc. When we gain from free trade we then refuse to allocate some of the gains to the losers of fee trade...

^^ Can't speak much abt Mexico. We're a nation of ~ 30 million people against that of the US population of ~ 250 million. There's probably a link posted here and I just woke up but Canada's trade with the US is 75%. The US trade with us is abt 25%. Add Mexico in there and that's probably ~ 50% of all US trade. If history is any indication, making any kind of changes to Nafta would have more of an impact on the US. We all know the old adage, "Those that fail to learn the lessons of history....."

^ Actually (as a Conservative, they are.) Keep in mind Nafta is a lot older then the current round of steel & aluminum tariff's imposed on by Trump. These are 2 different topics.

As for the Kinder Morgan pipeline, not even yesterday's polarizing issue could stop the other voice that didn't protest to the University from holding their own rally.

‘I didn’t even know’: Trump boasts about making up information during meeting with Canada’s Trudeau

“Trudeau came to see me—he’s a good guy, Justin,” Trump said at the fundraiser, according to audio reviewed by the Post. “He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please.’”

Ok, I'm not that well versed on US politics but when your political leader comes out and says "we're stupid, another country outsmarted us." How does that enforce confidence in all sectors of a Nation? For good or bad if a leader is week, it should be the responsibility of the Government to uplift him/her. If the leader is strong, then pride in ones country comes through. And that should be in anything in my books.

I'm pretty sure he included himself as in plural. If he doesn't know (I should hope he knows) that trading with other partners/countries is not a one way street. A partnership is a relationship. Its trust, balance. Its not 60 for me and 40 for you.

Here in Alberta we love it when oil is driving the economy and our specialization in the sector maximizes our return. However, when the tide turns, we’re begging for the benefits of diversification.

In the investment world, not many advisors recommend extreme concentration of investments even though that’s the way to: maximize returns, know the most about a business, etc. You just have to pick the winners. Either a single long term winner or one winner after another as they go from winning to losing. No problem.

Interestingly, free trade doctrine says that every country and every region can pick the winner for their own economy, and if that winner fails, another winner will come right along. The lower returns that diversification, by definition, would deliver, is undesirable. Just concentrate on the sector(s) or parts of a sector, where you have the competitive advantage and all will be well.

So, when the 40 or 50 year olds that suddenly loose their jobs to foreign competition ( or crashing commodity prices, technological innovation, foreign cheating or out maneuvering), simply retrain, sell everything for top dollar in their collapsing local economy, move and start over. All will be well.

U.S. has lost 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000
By Heather Long March 29, 2016

“...
Manufacturing jobs in the U.S. actually increased in the years after the North America Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada went into effect in 1994.

But the story changed dramatically in 2000. Since then, the U.S. has shed 5 million manufacturing jobs, a fact opponents of free trade mention often....”

“In 1960, about one in four American workers had a job in manufacturing. Today fewer than one in 10 are employed in the sector, according to government data.

Call it the Great Shift. Workers transitioned from the fields to the factories. Now they are moving from factories to service counters and health care centers. The fastest growing jobs in America now are nurses, personal care aides, cooks, waiters, retail salespersons and operations managers.”

“What we say here about NAFTA [the North American Free Trade Agreement] is, I cannot tell you if it’s good for the country, but I can tell you that it’s not good for Carroll County,” said Brad Hurley, who grew up in Bruceton and is now the president of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, as he drove me down the mostly abandoned main street of Bruceton. He’s lived in town all his life and worked at the H.I.S. plant some summers; his mother and brother worked there for decades. But the town he sees now is a shadow of what it once was, and other towns in Carroll County, and indeed much of rural Tennessee, are struggling too.

...
All trade deals have winners and losers, but towns such as Bruceton, which haven’t rebounded after more than a decade raise an important question: If trade is good for the nation, why have the benefits still not reached these towns?

“We’ve got an awful lot of people who have been displaced, including low-skill workers who have just not had good options,” said Wally Hopp, a professor at Michigan’s Ross School of Business. As low-skilled manufacturing jobs have left, he said, “the knowledge-worker class is doing better and better, and the labor-worker class is doing worse.”

In the article below, note that this is after the massive government bailouts just 8 to 10 years ago. Also note the public expenditures. Subsidies, engineering schools, etc. Basically massive financial bets being made and the provision of market supports or infrastructure - not by the free trading private sector but by the public sector and communities.

Why Canadian factories are losing out to the U.S. - Macleans.ca

Since 2006, it has lost more than 355,000 manufacturing jobs—80,000 in the past year. Canada’s automotive industry has been particularly hard hit, and it’s unlikely to see a resurgence any time soon, says George Magliano, head of North American automotive research for IHS Global Insight. In 2000, Canada produced nearly 17 per cent of the.. light cars and trucks in North America. By 2020, ...Canada’s share of that will fall to just 10 per cent.

...

Enter Memphis, struggling with high unemployment and anxious to rebuild its industrial base. Its offer to Electrolux included a brand new $190-million factory paid for almost entirely with public money, generous tax breaks and a non-unionized workforce willing to work for a starting wage of $13.50 an hour compared to a base wage of $19.28 in Quebec. Not only would the municipal government help recruit the 1,200 employees, it would pay to train them at a local community college.

In total, the package was worth as much as $300 million, or nearly $200,000 per worker. That’s more than the Canadian government’s entire $200-million fund for advanced manufacturing in Ontario, announced in this year’s budget. It was also far more generous than anything local authorities in L’Assomption could possibly offer, says Stephane Paré, director of business services with L’Assomption’s economic development agency.
...

Nor has it been difficult to find skilled workers, he says. Bromont is surrounded by five engineering schools, and employee turnover in Quebec has traditionally been low as workers prefer to stay in their home province.
...”

The $1.4 Trillion U.S. ‘Surplus’ That Trump’s Not Talking About
Bloomberg News
June 11, 2018

Excerpts:

“The U.S. has a surplus of $20 billion with China and $1.4 trillion with the rest of the world.

“That’s not a normal trade balance, of course, where the U.S. registered an annual deficit of more than $330 billion with China and about $550 billion with the world last year, but an "aggregate sales surplus" which measures both direct trade and the sales of multinational companies, according to research by Deutsche Bank AG.

“Just looking at the goods and services trade deficit is misleading and doesn’t capture the true size of U.S. business interests, according to Deutsche Bank economists. While trade and corporate data aren’t usually combined, if you add up all trade data, sales by U.S. companies in foreign countries and foreign firms in the U.S., "U.S. companies have sold more to the rest of the world than other countries have sold to the U.S. in the past ten years," writes chief China economist Zhang Zhiwei in the report.
...

For China, the image of a massive trade deficit with the U.S. "is at odds with the fact that Chinese consumers own more iPhones and buy more General Motors cars than U.S. consumers," wrote Zhang in the report. "These cars and phones are sold to China not through U.S. exports but through Chinese subsidiaries of multinational enterprises."
...”

What was the US economy worth in $2017? I read it was something like at least $200+ Trillion. So $1.4 Trillion is a drop in the bucket. Ours meanwhile I think if memory serves is something like around $2 Trillion GDP. The only hope we have against a massive US trade war, is either regime change, or hope that cooler heads prevail over the next 3 years or sooner.

Or adjust our expectations, reduce imports under any one specific trade deal, diversify exports and export markets and overall develop less reliance on trade if we can’t stand the volatility that can come with trading partners flip flopping on deals.

The US imports 89% of the uranium they need. Of those imports, Canada provides 25%. Australia adds 20%. If just the two countries stop uranium exports, US supply would be cut almost in half. That would affect power generation as well as the military.

From the US Energy Information Administration:

The United States imports most of the uranium it uses as fuel
Owners and operators of U.S. nuclear power reactors purchased the equivalent of 50.6 million pounds of uranium in 2016. About 11% of the uranium delivered to U.S. reactors in 2016 was produced in the United States and 89% came from other countries.

Sources and shares of purchases of uranium produced in foreign countries in 2016:

What was the US economy worth in $2017? I read it was something like at least $200+ Trillion. So $1.4 Trillion is a drop in the bucket. Ours meanwhile I think if memory serves is something like around $2 Trillion GDP. The only hope we have against a massive US trade war, is either regime change, or hope that cooler heads prevail over the next 3 years or sooner.

On supply management this is interesting. The US history of supply management ended only relatively recently. Replaced by other benefits. The more things change the more they remain the same - just called something else.

Of course the farm bill helps farmers, ranchers and producers. It provides credit for beginning farmers to get started. It protects against farm losses due to natural disasters through disaster assistance and crop insurance. It provides a cushion for the individual farmer if he or she suffers a poor yield or low prices, through a series of farm payment programs tied to specific commodities.

Agricultural trade is critically important to the bottom line for U.S. farmers, ranchers and producers. More than 20 percent of all U.S. agricultural production is exported. Agricultural exports are projected to account for one-third of farm income in 2017.

The farm bill authorizes market access promotion and export credit guarantee programs that are key for promoting exports and generating farm income from exports. These programs provide resources to exporting businesses to aggressively market American agricultural products overseas, and to enable exporters to price our products more competitively on the world market...”

“Boosting rural economic development

Only 15 percent of America’s population lives in rural areas, but as the bumper sticker reminds us, “No farms, no food.” The farm bill helps make it possible for people who want to farm to stay on the land by funding supporting jobs that provide a second income. It also provides resources to improve the quality of life in rural places.

Since 2009, programs authorized through the farm bill have helped over 1.2 million families obtain home loans; provided six million rural residents with access to improved broadband service; enabled 791,000 workers to find jobs; and improved drinking water systems that serve 19.5 million Americans.

The U.S. commerce secretary says Canada is not a national security threat and that a revitalized NAFTA could make the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum go away.

Wilbur Ross also acknowledged Wednesday that the U.S. doesn't have a trade deficit on steel with Canada — in fact, he says, it has a surplus with its northern neighbour in terms of dollar value.

Under grilling by Republicans and Democrats in Washington, Ross heard concerns that looming retaliatory tariffs by allies, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union, would kill American jobs and drive up prices for consumers.

He made the remarks to a U.S. Senate committee examining tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on some of that country's closest partners, based on the premise they are threats to American national security under the controversial Section 232 of U.S. trade law.

Ross played down Trump's national security rationale, and instead linked the tariffs to the unresolved renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"The Canadian steel industry is not being accused of directly and individually being a security threat.... The national security implication is in the aggregate, all of the steel," Ross testified.
Ross said Canada and Mexico were initially exempted from the national security tariffs "pending negotiations of NAFTA overall."

Advocating a better Edmonton through effective, efficient and economical transit.

“Also on the trade front is the immediate ban of Canadian wheat purchases by Japan after it was announced that some GM varieties were found in an Alberta ditch. This is an interesting development for the 6-million-tonne market that is Japanese wheat imports.

That’s because Canada was on the verge of picking up market share in Japan thanks to the TPP. With the United States not engaged in the trade deal, the ~50% market share held by the U.S. in the Japanese market is up for grabs. Canada looked poised to benefit, but now it appears that Australia will generate sales to the market. It’s entirely possible that the United States could move to rejoin the TPP. With this opening, the talk from the Trump administration in recent weeks might turn to action ...”

I was living in Vegas during the mad cow outbreak. When the news broke, people were concerned. When Klein uttered any "self-respecting rancher would have shot, shovelled and shut up" is when every restaurant gave up on Alberta beef. Smith & Wollensky was right in the middle of a months long promo touting Alberta beef. That promo disappeared overnight.

Except with mad cow disease, there are legitimate and significant health concerns. With this GMO wheat, despite it not being approved for human consumption, there's basically zero legitimate health concern.

1 - That is currently known. GMOs are new and we're not sure how they will react being out in the wild. Remember the law of unintended consequences. The problem with GMO plants is that once they're in the real world, they'll be almost impossible to get rid of even if serious side effects to people, plant, animals or insects are shown.

2 - It is against the law to import GMO wheat into numerous countries. They have the right to prevent the imports across their borders.

I’ve heard people say that Canada should play hardball with the US by cutting oil exports. I don’t think they know how the world has changed.

THE UNITED STATES AGAIN HOLDS MORE RECOVERABLE OIL THAN SAUDI ARABIA
June 15, 2018

“The United States has again surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest holder of recoverable oil, according to research and data expert Rystad Energy. The US has added close to 50 billion barrels over the last year and now holds an estimated 310 billion barrels of recoverable oil with current technologies, equal to 79 years of US oil production at present output levels.
...
In terms of already discovered oil, Saudi Arabia is still far ahead of all other countries, with 246 billion barrels of discovered oil, 90 billion barrels more than the US. “...

What Canada has is Uranium. About 25% of America's nuclear energy comes from Canada Uranium. We also export a lot of electricity to the US as well. Not just that but 35/50 states have Canada as their largest exporter.

“We knew that Europe, China, Canada and Mexico would go after American ag. That’s how they try to take us down. This is, I think, economic terrorism in a way,” Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy said on Fox News on Wednesday. “They want to shock us into submission by going after our ag instead of saying you know what, let’s reduce barriers.”

The Trump Administration is rudderless and incompetent. They are throwing things against the wall and hoping something sticks. If they don't get their way, Trump tweets how bad we are and then cozies up to his next bromance until he grabs them by the pussy. Trump throws everyone under the bus and nobody trust him or his administration.

Advocating a better Edmonton through effective, efficient and economical transit.

“The rules governing trade votes on Capitol Hill require presidential administrations, which negotiate deals under the authority of Congress, to jump through a number of hoops. Within 105 days after a trade agreement is signed, government economists must present their assessment of the economic impact of the deal, for example. Congress also has 90 days in session to vote on a deal. For those reasons, even if things go smoothly, the ratification in the U.S. is unlikely to happen before the second quarter of next year.

That assumes things go smoothly. One big unknown is who will control Congress in 2019. If Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections, will they be willing to back Trump’s new Nafta? Or will they play politics and claim he has betrayed his promises to bring factories and jobs home from Mexico?”